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The Winner of Our Best Bodega in NYC Contest!

It’s finally here, the day you’ve all been waiting for… THE WINNER OF OUR BEST BODEGA IN NYC CONTEST. So, after reading tens of thousands a lot of entries, the best bodega in New York City (based on your impassioned accounts of bodega love) is:

Congratulations Ryan (and also to the dudes at On the Corner), you’ll now receive seven days worth of six-packs of your choice (from On the Corner) hand-delivered to you by one of our plucky interns.

Ryan’s loving ode to On the Corner is after the jump. (And a special honorable mention shout-out to Rosa Jurjevics for her nostalgic paean to Frank’s Deli in Chelsea.)

This place has a sign out front that says “Enter a customer, leave a friend”. It’s the kind of sign that you’d chortle at and joke about with your friends (which is what i did when i moved into the neighborhood). But the weird thing is? It’s true.

The guys who work there always remember me, always ask how I’ve been, and always trade some sports jabs with me (being a Boston sports fan, there are plenty of jabs to throw). But it’s always good natured and familial. Once I needed a plunger suddenly, and although they didn’t have one, they called a 99c store up the street to see if they were A) still open and B) had one in stock.

They wave at me when i walk by, even if I’m not coming in. And it’s not just me – I see them talking with everyone in the neighborhood, from the crazy dude who’s always sweeping the sidewalks to the cops stopping in while on patrol. They’re quick to order you something if they don’t carry it, and will often try some new things just to see if their customers will dig them (like 1/2 gallon Inkos White Tea for $3).

Bodegas range from spotless gleaming mini groceries to dusty museums of ancient fabric softener and cats sleeping on potatoes. I won’t say On The Corner has the best selection, but they do what any great bodega should do: They are the glue that makes an otherwise unremarkable intersection a Neighborhood.